Jaded Gamer - Vampire part one

Slowly going back to a game that I used to run and enjoyed quite a bit. That would be Vampire: The Masquerade, but not just any edition, you see I bought the game when it was originally released the day it hit the FLGS. So I'm talking about the 1st edition of V:TM and maybe a little about 2nd edition. Back in the day I used to have a pretty dedicated group or two for Vampire and the World of Darkness in general and we had a lot of good times. Eventually I drifted more and more into Kult and that style of horror roleplaying and the old got left behind.

I think it's time to revisit the past as I've hit a rut in the hobby. The direction a lot of games are going is something that I don't find enjoyable as a GM or a player. While the OSR vein isn't somewhere I want to go after running into several assholes in that movement years ago. That and I never was a big DnD guy either.

Problem number one facing me on this endeavor is that I got rid of nearly all of my Vampire books years ago. I think the only thing I possess in print now is Hunters Hunted and the original Storytellers Screen (complete with highlighter marks and notations in a few spots). Now my first edition core book fell apart and was kept in a binder that vanished so many years ago and the rest I sold off with a couple 'vanishing'.

Finding print copies of those older books isn't that easy or cheap in most cases. When I saw that the first edition of Mage was available in POD over on Drivethru I thought maybe I could find it there. But sadly they only have a pdf of Vampire 1st edition available. Actually the only edition they have in POD is the 20th Anniversary edition which isn't what I'm looking for. So for the corebook it appears that I may have to go the route of printing off what I need for rules and character generation at home and hoping I find a copy eventually (if anybody has a lead on an affordable copy let me know).

The Players Guide was a different story. They have it available via POD for both 1st edition and 2nd edition. Originally I was going to purchase the 1st edition version as it's the one I remember so well. But then I noticed the dirt cheap pricing for the POD 2nd edition and that sealed that deal. So right now I'm waiting for it to be printed and shipped.

As I am currently planning on running the chronicle in Gary and Chicago (maybe even using the Forged in Steel story) I looked for some other books that I may be needing in the future. I was very happy to find Ashes to Ashes and the Chicago Chronicles books in POD. These contain the three books I used quite a bit in the past as I even ran one group through A2A back then. Just need to wait until I get more funds together to order them.

Next time I'm going to talk a bit more about where I'm setting the chronicle. Actually it'll more likely be about WHEN I'm setting the chronicle.